Greenhouse construction begins
 

Well the Greenhouse construction has begun. One of my concerns with the Sub "T" system was weather I would actually be able to get 24 tubes in each side without them being to close. After getting the first system set up and in place, I wound up only using 15 tubes. That will decrease the amount of air volume I can effectively cool in that system. I think I'll be able to get a few more in the second system because there will be more room behind the barrel (side facing the dirt wall, but wont know for sure until I actually get it in place. Even if not there will be 360 feet of tubing in the ground between both systems. That's still well above the 300 feet recommended for the 200 square feet of greenhouse floor. Just not what I had hoped for of doubling the amount of recommended tubing in the ground.

Also, I had hoped to get both systems in the ground last weekend. But as usual with any construction project, things rarely go as planed. But we got one of them in the ground along with one of the nutrient reservoirs. I'm the big boned (fat/pregnant) guy with the beard, and the other guy is a buddy of mine that was helping me. My mom took the pictures of us while we were back-filling the hole.

I've reserved the excavator for next weekend as well, and my buddy will be back to help install the second Sub "T" system next weekend too. Even though I need to pay for the excavator for two weekends instead of just one, that luckily wont wind up killing my budget. The original budget had planed to be renting from another company, so I actually got it for about $130 less than what was planed in the budget. Also I had planed to have 2 helpers, and be paying $10 an hour, for a total of costing $320 in labor for two days. But wound up saving about $120 in labor. Then because I wont be able to use all the tubing, I'll be taking one or two rolls back, and thus getting me back about $55-$110 more. Next weekend I will only need one helper after the hole is dug, and I begin to back-fill it.

P.S.
When filling the 275 gallon reservoir up, make sure the metal cage is in place around it before you fill it. Otherwise it will bulge out, and you will need to empty it to get the metal cage in place (just one of the things that didn't go as planed.

Is there any updates?

Thanks for the interest CrossOps,
Yes, we got the second Sub "T" system in the ground last weekend, along with the other two nutrient reservoirs. Right now I'm in the process of leveling the backyard out again, as well as creating the boarders for the nutrient reservoirs (like in the 3D drawings). The lady looking down into the hole is my mom, she's checking out the mess I made (her recent favorite saying these days). I still didn't get all the 4 inch corrugated tubing in the second system I wanted, but I did get about 4 more tubes in it than the first one. I could have gotten one more in, but to do so I would have needed to cut it from a new 100 foot roll. Therefore I couldn't return it, costing me $55 to get just one more 12 foot long tube in the ground. So I decided it wasn't worth the money to do so. In total I have almost 400 feet of 4 inch tubing in the ground, witch isn't the 600 I was hoping for (doubling the recommended amount), but still almost 100 feet more than what's recommended for a greenhouse this size. As well as still capable of circulating 310 cfm at the recommended not more than 10 cfm per in-ground tube. So I'm still able to be well above the recommended circulation of the entire air volume of the greenhouse 5 times every hour (once every 12 minutes).

3000 cubic feet of air to circulate, 31 tubes in the ground.. At 10 cfm each that's 310 cfm the two systems can move underground and still work correctly. 3000 divided by 12 equals 250 cfm (that's the needed cfm to circulate 3000 cubic feet of air 5 times per hour). But actually I purposely inflated the cubic feet of air needed to be circulated to 3000. In actuality it will be more in the neighborhood of 2300 cubic feet of air in the greenhouse. Needing to move 191 cfm to circulate the entire air volume of the greenhouse 5 times per hour. Moving 310 cfm through the system will basically circulate the entire air volume of the greenhouse through the system (underground) about every 7-1/2 minutes (7.419). So even though I don't have two complete sub "T" systems in the ground/greenhouse, what I have been able to get in place should still be well more than sufficient.

If you look closely an the picture inside the barrel, you'll see there is some insulation (blue board Styrofoam insulation) at the separation between the bottom warm air inlet, and the upper cool air outlet that wasn't in the first system. Well it was supposed to be in that system before installation too. But I simply didn't have time for the silicone (and spray foam insulation) to cure before we installed the barrel. So I will be adding it later after I level the ground out, and while it's in the ground.

You'll also notice the top of the reservoirs are covered, that's to keep dust and dirt from getting into the reservoir (but it still gets in there). In pictures of the first Sub "T" system and first reservoir you can see that I cut the top of the water storage tanks, then used the part I cut out to make a lid. I will show more about how I did that, and the materials I used to create the lip when I take a few more pictures. I also have a couple more alterations I need to do to the lids first as well, and I will show how I made the borders around the reservoirs at that time as well.

P.S.
The shirtless guy in the hole helping me back fill it is my buddy. He will be 65 in a couple of months, but he can out work anybody I know. Even at his age he can out work guys 30 years younger. I would be willing to bet you don't know anybody that has hand mixed well over 50-60 bags of cement (one or two bags at a time) in a wheelbarrow to build a retaining wall in his backyard (all in one day). Simply because it would have cost about $120 to rent a cement mixer to do it, and didn't feel like spending money to do something he can do without spending it. That was less than two years ago. I got burned out mixing just 2 bags of cement to install the post for our mailbox about a year ago. Can you guess who I plan to hire to help me mix the cement for the 8 posts needed for my moms fence I get to build after the greenhouse is done?

Wow, GPS...

I take vacation for 10 days, get back and find you have done a little remodeling! I knew you planned the new cooling system for the greenhouse, but somehow didn't realize how entailed it was going to be. Can't wait to see and hear how it works out once the greenhouse is installed!

Todd

OK I finally got pictures taken of the progress. Some of the pictures were taken about a week ago, but the latest ones (easy to tell which) were taken just today. But after about a week of shoveling dirt, rock and sand, as well as raking it all out fairly level I was finally able to get going on building the greenhouse structure.

First to elaborate on the lids for the nutrient reservoirs. The small twist off top wasn't going to be adequate for maintenance. So I simply cut a larger opening with my trusty rotary tool. I created a flexible lip using vinyl baseboard. Though I forget what the actually call it, but it is the vinyl baseboard typically used in commercial buildings. It comes in either 4 foot pieces or rolls of 20 feet. It is 4 inches wide so I cut into two 2 inch wide strips. Then just bolted it to the reservoir to create a one inch lip all the way around. Then I added two 1x1 composite decking pieces for added support. I still have some handles to add to it, but haven't gotten around to that yet.

There are 12 tubes coming out of the ground. That is 2-1/2 inch electrical conduit. I cut 6 of them out of each 10 foot long tube. Their 19 inches long each, and 10 inches deep in the ground. I used a small level to make sure they are plum vertically, and a string line to make sure they are lined up correctly. They are spaced 4 feet apart on center on the long side, and 10 feet apart on the short side.

The 2 inch electrical tubing will slide snugly right down into the 2-1/2 inch tubing in the ground. They will then be bolted together. Then a baseboard will go all the way around the greenhouse, and that will be attached to the electrical conduit with 3 inch decking screws. I got a real good deal on the wood for the baseboard today. I was going to use something else, but Home Depot had plenty of 2x6 pressure treated wood in there "cull" bin. And at $0.51 cents for each 4 foot length piece, I'm now able to do the entire baseboard around the greenhouse in 2x6 pressure treated wood for less than $15 total. The 8 foot 2x6 pressure treated wood goes for $8.97, and the 10 foot goes for $10.97. I literally saved over $50 by luck.

The two poles sticking up are about 1 foot taller than their going to be I think, so they will likely be a little shorter. Leaning up ageist the retaining wall is the upper "A" frame that will go on top of the vertical poles. If my calculations are correct, the greenhouse will wind up being about 13-1/2 to 14 feet tall at the top apex. I don't have a later that tall that I will need to attach the horizontal framing with, as well as the 6 mil plastic covering. So I will build a ladder/platform out of some of the other "cull" wood (I don't know why they call it that) to be able to reach it.

As for the box frame around the in-ground reservoirs, most of that was made from the "cull" wood I bought a couple weeks ago. But at that time they only had 2x4 pieces of the pressure treated wood. I had to cut 2 of the 2x4's I bought for the greenhouse framing to finish making all 3 boxes. I built them above ground (I forgot to take a picture of that), then just used a large rubber mallet to pound the 4 stakes (in each corner) into the ground. I used a level as I was going to make sure they were straight and level. Then we just back-filled the dirt in around the boxes.

Very nice update. What type of greenhouse, what shape and materials? How soon before you can test water or nutrient temp in the sunken reservoir?

The greenhouse itself is basically modeled after the design here: Horticultural Engineering - Rutgers University. I cant directly link to the exact page, so when you click on the link, scroll down just under the picture on that page and click on "2003-2007 High Tunnel Project." Then scroll down to the bottom of that page and click on "Pictures of High Tunnel Construction and Preparation," there are a total of 60 pictures of it's construction. That's the basic design but with a few small changes. I attached a drawing I made of what the framing of mine is planed to look like.

Mine will differ in the exact size, as well as doorway placement. Also I'm using 2 inch electrical conduit instead of the 2 inch metal fence post tubing. I may or may not have the sides roll up and down later, but either way it wont be done by a motor. I can easily roll it up and down myself. I was going to go a less expensive rout, but because the sub "T" system is smaller than intended (yet still 25% larger than recommended) I decided to go with a UV poly plastic like these UVA : Hydroponic Supplies and Greenhouse Equipment for the Professional Grower, by CropKing Inc.. It will cost me about $100 more to do it in the UAV plastic film rather than the regular 6 mil roll poly plastic sheeting. But the UAV film should lessen solar gain with it's UV rating, thus in the long run I think it would be worth the extra money.

It won't be until next summer that I can really tell exactly how well the in ground reservoirs are doing at keeping the nutrient solution cool. The average daytime temp now is in the 80's, and our summer time temps get into the 120's. So any testing now would give inadequate results. However our daytime temps were in the 100's when we were installing them, and I tested the water temp then in the first reservoir (the other two are a foot deeper). The results I got from that test was very encouraging. Keep in mind that the ground was fairly dry because we just dug a big hole, and that when I took the temp readings the reservoir was still about 80% exposed to direct sunlight all day when the daytime temps were about 105 degrees. The temp reading I got at 5 pm was 90 degrees, at 11 pm the temp was 82 degrees.

The ground temp varies somewhat from region to region, but is typically in the range of 65-75 degrees all year long once you get about 3 feet deep. Once I have everything in place, including the insulated reservoir covers painted with the reflective roof coating, as well as lined with weather striping, and the drip hose around the reservoirs set on a timer to keep the ground around them moist (necessary to wick away heat), I expect to see the reservoir temps in the low 70's all summer long.

Just thought I would post the latest pictures (well I took them two days ago). I have the baseboards installed, and the "A" frame tops put together. I placed the "A" frame tops in the ground tubes to stretch them out, then I put a screw in both sides of each connecting joint to make sure they wont work their way loose later. The wood piles are of the "cull" wood I get for $0.51 cents a board, their usually about 4 feet long, and the pile of 2x6 pressure treated wood is what's left over after I completed the greenhouse baseboards.

For the baseboards, I just cut one foot long pieces and beveled the edges to make connecting boards to connect all the 4 foot long pieces together. Then screwed the baseboards into the ground tubes (and ends together) with 3 inch decking screws. Of coarse I would need to back out the screws from the ground tubes in order to insert the poles later, but easy enough to do (actually it's already done and will be in the next update pictures).

Also as you can see in the pictures I have made the covers for all 3 in-ground nutrient reservoir. Because of the odd shape (5 feet 2 inches by 4 feet 4 inches), I had to do some creative cutting, as well as piecing together at the seams. I basically used one (4x8) sheet of OSB and cut it into a 5 foot long piece by 2 feet 4 inches. Then cut the short side into two 2 foot sections (half of 4 feet). I used the left over piece from the 5 foot long side to screw it all together. But before I did, I used an entire tube of liquid nails between the sheets of OSB. I'll take pictures of the underside (where it's all seamed together) tomorrow. Then I screwed two pieces of the 4 foot 2x4's to it along the middle of the long side for added strength, I expect to do a lot of walking on these lids. I don't plan to add the two inch thick Styrofoam insulation to the underside of these lids until next spring, in preparation for the summer heat.

P.S.
With any luck I'll have the greenhouse framing mostly done in a few days, as well as started building the hydroponic system/support structure by this weekend.

Ok, this is looking great. So the in-ground reservoirs are within (inside) the actual greenhouse and not external to it right? Or am I not seeing it correctly?

No, the three 275 gallon nutrient reservoirs are outside the footprint of the greenhouse. They are the two square boxes behind the greenhouse, and between the greenhouse and retaining wall (opposite side of the doorway). The third one is the square box between the greenhouse and tree. The two round blue containers inside the greenhouse footprint is the two above ground sections to the subterranean heating and cooling system (tops of 55 gallon drums). If you look at the pictures above you can see all the black corrugated tubes connected to the 55 gallon drums (where the air flows through to cool it). Here is the link to the thread I started about the: subterranean heating and cooling system I told you about, click on the two links in my first post of that thread, and that goes into detail about how and why the system works, as well as the building recommendations I keep referring to.

OK, I ordered the greenhouse covering/glazing today. This is exactly what I ordered: 4 Year Greenhouse Film - Plastic Greenhouse Film | Greenhouse Megastore

I ordered the 24x55 foot roll. I wanted it to be a little bit wider than the greenhouse so I wouldn't need to deal with seaming up gaps at the ends and edges. Including shipping, it came out to about $194.

That's the thick plastic they drape and wrap around greenhouses right? How long does that stuff last?

EDIT: *facepalm* just saw the title... The answer to my question was in your post.

They come in different ratings, it all depends on the UV rating. They range form no UV inhibitors at all, to a 4 year poly. They rate them by the amount of UV inhibitor in the plastic. The UV inhibitors resist degrading the plastic. I would need to check, but I think the highest rating is like a 6 year, but I'm not sure. The higher the rating, the more expensive the plastic is, and the 4 year is the most common and widely used for greenhouses (even commercial greenhouses).

I could have used the clear 6 mil construction poly (with no UV inhibitors in it). In fact that was my original plan, the 20x100 foot roll of the construction poly costs $94 at Lowe's. That would have been enough to cover the greenhouse twice. And I planed to replace it (with the second half of the same roll) at the 6 month mark. After that I expected to replace it at about the one year mark with a good UV rated poly film I bought with the profits I got from the sold products. But because the sub "T" system/s are smaller than my original plan (even though they are larger than the recommended for a 200 square foot greenhouse), I wanted the UV inhibitors in the plastic to help lower solar gain (heat from solar radiation) during summer. So I splurged.

P.S.
If I were to use the corrugated sheets of poly for the greenhouse glazing, it would cost me about $2,500+ just for the glazing, then I would still need to build the greenhouse framing (that probably would have run another $1,000 to $1,500). But going the rout I am, by the time all is said and done the greenhouse (greenhouse structure only) will run me about $800 to build. That's less than it cost to build and install the sub "T" system. The Sub "T" system cost me about $1000 to install, including equipment rental and labor costs (I pay $10 an hour for labor help).

OK I've been very busy, but thought I would post another update. I have to many pictures for one post so I'm breaking it up into two posts. As I mentioned I took pictures of the under sides of the reservoir covers to show how I seemed the pieces together. All three pieces are overlapped by the piece of OSB running down the center. The overlapping piece of OSB is screwed in from both sides, as well as has a whole tube of liquid nails between the sheets of OSB. The 2x4's going down both sides adds support for walking on top of these covers. I only painted the outside edges of the covers on the bottoms with the roof coating because I will eventually have a layer of 2 inch thick Styrofoam glued to the underside, and the foamboard adhesive needs at least one side to be a porous surface for it to cure correctly. I will also eventually have weather stripping around the edges as well.

Second update post.....

These pictures were taken over the last week, and the latest ones were taken this afternoon.


I had hoped to have more done by this time, but due to my helpers being busy, as well as the fact I decided it would be easier to paint the wood framing with the white roof coating before installing the greenhouse and hydroponic system support framing. I guess I got set back about three days, but it will save me time as well as problems later by painting the wood prior to installation. I also finally just got a new bulb for my 500 watt halogen work light yesterday, so now I can still work when it gets dark.

It also took me almost two days to build that large wooden later/platform for me to stand on. Mostly because the first design was getting to heavy, but still wasn't sturdy enough. So I took it all completely apart, and redesigned it. I needed to build it because I don't have a free standing later tall enough, and don't want to spend the money to rent or buy one. Including all the wood and screws, It only cost me about $25 to build the platform/later, and when I'm done I can still reuse the wood and screws that didn't get striped. I needed to be able to get that high to screw the horizontal 1x2's to the top apex.

You can see all the wood framing I've been painting (with two coats of the roof coating). I wanted everything painted to reflect as much light back to the plants as I can get. Then finally yesterday and today I was able to get started attaching it to the greenhouse structure. Some of the vertical 2x4's are pressure treated, and some aren't. The ones that aren't, I cut and attached a piece of pressure treated wood (leftover from the baseboard framing) to the bottoms. That way the wood touching the ground is pressure treated. You can see where I already attached it to them in at least one of the pictures (the ones laying on the sawhorses).

P.S.
I don't know if you can see it in the pictures. But when installing the vertical tubes I wanted them the same height. But because the ground isn't exactly level, and the ground tubes are at slightly different heights. I measured and cut each corner tube to about 8 feet 2 inches. Then I ran a string line down the sides (along the top) to measure and cut the rest to. I simply attached the string line to the polls with rubber bands. Then I just measured how much I needed to cut from them one by one.

Another side note: originally I planed to use propane heaters during winter because electric heaters use so much electricity. But while looking for something else, I ran across a electric infrared heater (like this one) that only uses 550 watts, and still puts out as much as 1800 BTU's. That would be reasonable because we don't get cold enough to need more heating than that, and running 550 watts for 15 continues hours would only cost me $0.77 cents a day (about $23 a month). The electric infrared heater would be easy to hook up to a thermostat or timer for better temp control. So I will probably go the route of the infrared heater.

Nice tip on the heater, I need to look into that also.

Yes, just pay attention to the product/heater recommendations. The one I posted a link to won't be usable in my greenhouse. It states:

"Note: Heaters must be a minimum 3" from ceiling, 24" from a vertical surface and a minimum 6 feet from the floor."

3 feet from the ceiling works, and 6 feet from the floor works, but there wont be anywhere within that range I wont have something vertical within 2 feet of that. I will only have 3 feet between sides, and that would leave no more than 18 inches. But I plan to look for some smaller units that can be placed closer to things, then being smaller, use 2 of them.

P.S.
I'm happy with the progress in the past two days. Though I have used up all the wood I had painted. So tomorrow morning/early afternoon I need to paint more in order to get it ready to use.

Well progress is rolling along now. I took all these pictures between yesterday and the day before. I also bought the 3 pumps I will need. The two large ones pump up to 18 feet head height, and are rated at a 505 GPH at 13 feet. They cost $100 each. The smaller one is for the bottom level of the hydroponic system. It has a head height of 14 feet, and is rated at 375 GPH at 7 feet. I will need to check once I open them, but I expect that they don't have filters. So I expect to need to create a simple filter for each of them.

I've added resting blocks to all of the vertical support structure framing wood that the horizontal framing rests on. That will just aid in support of all the weight of the water when the systems are flooded. Each level will likely be over 2000 pounds when flooded (6000 pounds for all 3 levels). They aren't pretty, but functional. I could have cut them all to the same size (etc.), but I wanted to use the scrap wood I needed to cut earlier for it (most of it won't really be seen much when finished anyway).

Also note how I did the top "A" frame at the end. I've added some more wood to it for attaching the plastic to, but don't have a picture of that at this time. I will do both ends the same way, but I need to build a temporary later/platform that will be attached to the greenhouse support structure on the other side before I can do that (the one that's built wont fit between the greenhouse, and retaining wall).

Not sure if I mentioned this before or not, but all of the vertical supports are attached to the electrical conduit tubing with 3 inch decking screws at the top, middle, and bottom. I took a picture if one of the screws and you can see that it goes through the wood into the conduit tubing. I always pre-drill the holes through the wood and tubing using a drill bit that's a little smaller than the screws. That way I they are easy to screw in, and wont split any of the wood. There wood deck screws and not self tapping, so they wont screw through the electrical conduit without a pre-drilled hole anyway. But as long as you don't use a drill bit that's to big, they screw into the electrical conduit nicely, and are extremely tight with no chance of them working their way loose.

I also took better pictures of where I attached pieces of pressure treated wood to the foot of the regular 2x4's. That way it's only pressure treated wood that touches the ground. The guy in the pictures is a friend from across the street that has helped me work on the greenhouse, he just happened to stop by that day to see how the progress was going.

I have the outside horizontal support framing for the top level up, and I am working on the inner support framing. If things go as planed, I will have most of that up by tomorrow night. Then I'll be going to get more of the 'cull" wood Tuesday morning. Then I'll need to paint it Tuesday afternoon. And hopefully I will have the rest of the hydro system support structure finished and started on making the hydroponic system by Wednesday.

Post updates :P

OK, I now have another update ready to post.
Even though I'm happy with the progress at this point, and how it's coming along together, I could be farther along if I wasn't going through the "cull" wood faster than they stock it. I didn't get much done two days this week for that very reason. Friday I decided to buy some of the more expensive 2x4's just so I had some wood to work with. I now only need 4 more pieces of the cull wood to finish the hydroponic system support structure, and it probably wont be restocked until Tuesday. In total I need about 90 more pieces of the cull wood to finish both the support structure and the hydroponic system.

But I am still making progress. All the areas of the support structure that are covered with the OSB board are finished. The only sections left are the ends between the long rows. On one side I have 2 of the 3 sections finished, the other side I still need all 3 sections. They are easy to do, I just needed one piece of the cull wood for a cross beam for each of those sections to finish it. I took some pictures of the center sections with the OSB removed from there so you can see how I did the support structure underneath.

I also took pictures of the top A frame end section where I finished adding the wood strips to. The wood strips will be what the edges of the greenhouse covering will be attached to on the top ends. The sections of OSB are the bottoms of the hydroponic system, and will rest in place on the support structure (right were they are). But right now I'm just cutting them to the right size, and making sure they fit in place on the support structure correctly before I complete each section. Once I have all the sections cut to size, and in place to ensure a good fit, I'll take them out (and mark each one so it goes back in the same place). Then laminate the 6 ml plastic to the tops of the OSB, and paint the bottoms with the white reflective roof coating. Then I'll create the sides of the hydro system using 2x4's that are laminated with the 6 mil plastic as well.

I also ordered seeds a couple days ago,
Sweet Basil (common) Seeds - Ocimum basillicum (one pound)
Dark Opal Basil Seeds (one ounce)
Lemon Basil Seeds - Ocimum basillicum citriodorum (one ounce)
Dill, "Bouquet" Seeds - Anethum graveolens (one ounce)
Chives Seeds (common) (one ounce)
Catnip Seeds (one ounce, plan to market it to the pet supply stores)

I also ordered some lemongrass seeds from another company. I wanted to order some tarragon, and oregano but they are much more expensive and will get them later when I have money coming in. I forgot to order sage, and probably will later this week. I added a drawing of the completed hydroponic system for anyone not familiar with how it's supposed to look when completed.

Just thought I would mention that the link I posted about the heater was probably a typo. After looking into it farther I haven't found any that were near 500 watts. It is most likely 1500 watts, and not 550 watts. Therefore would cost three times as much electricity to run. Also all the inferred heaters I found had the same space requirements (nothing spaced within 2-3 feet) regardless of output. I will continue to look into them, but don't hold much hope for electric heaters. If I can get one that has sufficient BTU's using only about 500 watts it would be cost effective, but not at much more watts than that.

That's a considerable difference. Looks like I am back to the drawing board also. I may just setting for an element or ceramic based heater that can just hold a constant.

We need to get this figured out.

The last week has been filed with obstacles. I was able to finally get about all the "cull' wood I needed. But I have had regular weather problems with wind and rain every other day. As well as a issue with the rubberized coating I planed to use for laminating the plastic sheeting to the OSB not having good contact. I do have (come up with) another economical option, but wont post anything about it until I have tried/tested it and seen the results. But so far it looks promising.

I have pictures I have taken over the week, but they aren't downloaded to my computer yet, and it's 3:35 am now (and I still need to make dinner), so I don't feel like doing it right now. But will definitely post all the pics later. Just thought I would make a small update.

Also I have some consecrations for heating, but at this point I'm mostly back to looking at "propane" options. I can elaborate later on the options I'm looking at. But so far the small camping heaters still look like the best option. All the other options (even under $100) put out too many BTU's (30,000-50,000), not only wasting the propane, but even more importantly would likely damage my plants in such close quarters. Even if they were on timers and/or a thermostat, unless the heat could be dispersed differently.

OK, I finaly have the pictures downloaded to post. Now that the hydroponic system support structure is finished, I have been working on building the hydroponic systems. To do that I need to laminate a lot of wood with the 6ml plastic before I can put it together. In total I need to laminate 24-2x4's (8 foot), 60- 1/2 pieces of 2x4's (the cull wood) I'll cut them to size later, 12-3 feet by 8 feet sheets of OSB, and 9 more sheets of OSB (about one square yard each). As of tonight, all I still need to laminate is 36-1/2 pieces of 2x4's (the cull wood), and 6 of the small one square yard sheets of OSB. The rest is laminated. So most of the pictures are of the process of laminating the wood. I hope to be able to get the rest of the wood lamination done tomorrow (baring weather problems, and/or needing to run back out to Lowe's for more contact cement which is almost a certainty).

By the way, the alternative I came up with for laminating the plastic sheets to the OSB is working very well. I decided to use "vinyl tile adhesive" But you've got to be sure not to get the stuff for feltback vinyl tile, and get the stuff for vinyl composition tile (VCT). This is the exact stuff I'm using: HENRY 430, 4-Gallon Vinyl Tile Adhesive. It's very sticky with the consistency of something like a thick elmer's wood glue. I'm using the smallest notched trowel I could find for spreading/applying it to the OSB. Once it's applied to the OSB, I just roll out a pre-cut piece of the 6ml plastic sheet and just use a dry rag to push out any air bubbles for a clean/even lamination. It will take a good 24 hours for the tile adhesive to cure/dry, but I'll give it a minimum of 48 anyway. It does seem to want to make the OSB bend/bow as it drys, so I've placed them face down on the garage floor, and placed a lot of weight on top to press it down (the 5 gal buckets you see are full of water). I got 2 boxes of the 4 gal size of the adhesive ($27 ea), but in total I will probably only need about 6 gallons total to laminate all the OSB I need to.

Not sure if I mentioned this earlier or not, but I'm using contact cement for laminating the 2x4's. It's a simple process, but kind of boring. I first cut one foot wide pieces of the 6ml plastic from the 20 foot wide roll, then cut them into 10 foot long pieces (I pre-cut about 50 of them). To laminate them I just roll them out the table, wash them off with a wet rag and let dry. Then I roll on a coat of contact cement to one side of the 2x4's, and then to the plastic sheets. Wait 10 min, and apply the two sides together on the table. Then I apply contact cement to the rest of the surface of the 2x4's and wait another 10 min before rolling it over the plastic sheet and pressing it on using a dry rag as I go. To make the seem, once all the sides are done I apply a more contact cement to the bottom edge and cut the plastic edge so it overlaps the bottom edge, but the seem stays on the bottom edge and wont wrap around (sorry I forgot to take pictures of that part, but will try to remember later). When I construct the hydroponic system, that will be on the bottom edge and wont come in contact with water, so water cant get inside the seem.

In case anyone is wondering why I don't just use the contact cement on the OSB as well, there are two reasons. First it would simply be to expensive, the contact cement is $30 a gallon, and I would need about 8-9 gallons for the about 450 square feet of OSB I need to laminate (costing in excess of $250, verses the $60 for the vinyl tile adhesive). The second is it would take at least 3 people to apply the plastic to the OSB once they were coated. If it's not attached perfect the first time, I' screwed. Simply because you cant redo it (once it touches it's stuck), and for the same reason you cant just roll up the plastic sheet to roll over the OSB once you apply the contact cement, or it will stick to itself.

P.S.
Notice the borders I made to keep dirt from falling into the sub "T" system. I just used a flexible flower bed boarder, and screwed the end's together, placed them around the sub "T" system lids, and back-filled around it. I couldn't stake them down because of the high likelihood of the stakes going through the tubing. Also if my beard looks funny, it's because I tucked it inside my shirt so it wont get stuck to the contact cement.

GPS that looks awesome. I had not idea you were constructing this, this way, perhaps I misunderstood you when we talked. This is pretty slick. Any idea on the longevity increase utilizing this method of coating/covering the wood?

I'm not sure what you mean by "longevity increase". But as far as constructing the hydro system, it's important to make sure you don't make holes in the plastic during constructing it. But as far as the overall projected longevity, I can tell you the 6ml plastic is construction plastic that is used in all parts of construction. Including being a moisture barrier and intended to last many decades. As far as the "contact cement" longevity, that to is intended to last decades, it's typically used for laminating counter tops and similar cabinetry. As far as the OSB longevity, it's the main wood used in house construction. As long as it's kept from moisture it will last a century or more, if not it can decay immediately if the wood is saturated.

Of coarse the vinyl tile adhesive is also intended to last for decades, being used to adhere tile to floors. The particular "VCT" adhesive is mostly used in commercial buildings, including hospitals. However the vinyl tile adhesive is only water resistant (not water proof). So that means it's water soluble and that you need to pay attention if you damage the 6ml plastic. But depending on how bad the damage is (pinhole, scratch, tear, etc) it can be simply patched various ways (silicone, hot glue, marine goop, etc.), and it would only be a problem if was below the water line in the system.

Well I took some more pictures today of how I'm laminating the 1/2-2x4's. Some of the pictures are redundant, being that they show the process of laminating the wood with the contact cement from the beginning, and I have already posted similar pictures. But heck, I may as well post them too because I have them. Though I mostly just wanted to show how I made the seems on the bottom edge I mentioned in an earlier post.

Basically once I've laminated all 4 sides, I fold back the overlap, and tape it back with electrical tape. Then I wash the dust off the bottom edge with a damp rag and let dry. Then I brush on a coat of contact cement to the bottom edge with a disposable foam brush, as well as the rest of where the plastic will overlap, and on the overlapping plastic itself. Then just fold the plastic back over and press it down firmly using a dry rag. Then I just cut off the excess overlapping plastic and press down the seem. I haven't bothered to clean off the excess contact cement from the bottom edge, I don't think it's any problem at all. But I already have a new bottle of "acetone" nail polish remover to do that with if I decide to later.

P.S.
You may notice on some of the shorter 2x4's, the plastic lamination dosen't go all the way to the end of the board. That's because the table I'm using has a 8 foot long work space, and some of the 1/2-2x4's are longer than 4 feet. So sometimes some of it hangs over the edge. But these boards will be cut to size later, and I will need to cut off anywhere from 8 inches, to a foot and half. So the couple of inches at the end that didn't get laminated in plastic will be cut off later anyway.

Just a little update on greenhouse heating options. Well first off I'm still skeptical on using electric heaters, but after running some numbers it may not be as bad as it seems if my numbers are correct. I was at Lowe's today looking into their propane heaters and after asking some questions (and reading the box), I was interested in a heater like this: Shop Mr. Heater Buddy Heater at Lowes.com. The particular one I was looking at was rated between 4,000 and 6,000 BTU's. The box also stated that it would run up to 110 hours on a 20 lb tank. Of coarse that would be on the low setting (4,000 BTU's), but doing the math and assuming a 20 lb tank refill would cost me $20, it would cost about $0.18 per hour to run ($20.00 divided by 110).

After looking online at some electric heaters for cost comparisons I found this one: Shop :USE 2-in-1 Convection and Radiant Heater at Lowes.com. It runs 1500 watts on high, and says it puts out a maximum 5,100 BTU's. Now to compare them I know we pay $0.09.29 cents per kilowatt hour, and using the Electricity Cost Calculator I compared running the electric heater for 110 hours. So 9.29 cents, and 1500 watts shows it would cost $15.33 to run it for the same 110 hours ($0.14 cents per hour).

Going by those figures the electric heater should cost less to run by 4 cents per hour. However I have always known gas and propane heaters to be more energy efficient. But of coarse there's always the variable of the fluctuating propane prices depending on where you get the tank refiled. Though on the other hand it's much easier to thermostatically control electric heaters than gas/propane heaters. Well, at least for a small scale greenhouse setup, rather than a household system anyway. And being able to adjust the heat, as well as how much fuel is burned is necessary in being energy efficient (cost effective). With that in mind, I think the key in being cost effective is really going to be being able to adjust the heat level as needed (fuel or electric). Also if using a electric heater I would suggest having a "Kill A Watt" meter to make sure you know how much it's costing to run for sure.

Well I thought it was time for an update. I've been so busy building the hydroponic system growing beds, that I just haven't had much time for anything else. There are more than 20 pictures, so I'll break the update up into two posts.

In total there are 21 grow beds, 12 of them are approximately 8x3 foot grow beds (large ones), and 9 more about half that size (small ones). After all the wood was laminated with the black plastic it was time to start constructing the grow beds. First I laid out the the laminated OSB face down on the table. Then I screwed in the laminated 2x4's around the sides. Once all the screws were pre-drilled and screws screwed in, I unscrewed 3 sides. That way I can keep all the holes lined up. Once I unscrewed the 3 sides I lifted the OSB and placed blocks to hold it up.

With the OSB up and out of the way, I hot glued the corners and ran a bead of 100% silicone along the inside seam between the OSB and 2x4's. Once I did one side, I screwed that side back down, and did the same for the other side, then screwed all the screws back in. Then I flipped the grow bed over and finished hot gluing all the corners from the top until the seems and gaps were all filled in. Then I continued to hot glue the outside seam all away around the grow bed, to stop any leaks that may get passed the inside silicone bead. Once all the hot gluing was done, I ran another bead of silicone around the inside edge of the grow bed.

I also finally took some pictures of the parts to my water filtration system. I have had them for weeks, but just took pictures of it today. There are 4 different replaceable cartridge filter housings. First will be a sediment filter, then the 1 micron filter, and then two carbon filters. The cartridge housings were $19 ea, the sediment filter was $9 (for a 2 pack), the carbon filters were $13 ea, and the 1 micron filter was $22. If you look closely at the 1 micron filter it shows it is a 0.5 micron filter. But with the allowable variance of .5 microns, it's really the same as a absolute 1 micron filter.

As I promised this is part 2 of the update post.

Once I had all the grow beds built, I still had some finish work to do. Because all the 2x4's were laminated in black plastic, and because black absorbs heat as well as won't reflect light back to the plants, I wrapped the outside and top edges of all the grow beds with white duct tape. You'll notice on some of the small grow beds that there are still some black sides. Those are the edges that will be butted up against another grow bed, and wont be exposed to light or seen. Once I had all the sides wrapped in the white duct tape, I also had to paint the bottoms of the grow beds (OSB) with the white reflective roof coating. That not only gives it a waterproofs coating, but will reflect more light back down to the plants on the lower levels.

At the time I took the pictures in the garage this afternoon, I had all the 8 foot long grow beds ready. They are in two stacks of 6 in the garage. I also had 4 of the smaller grow beds done and stacked in the garage. The other stack of 4 I finished this afternoon, and took pictures of them drying tonight. I do still need to finish building the last of the small grow beds (the 9'th). I have the OSB laminated, it's under the 8 stacked 5 gal buckets, and the 2x4's in the back yard. I needed to finish building all the rest first because I was using the sheet of OSB I needed to cut it out of as a table top. I had planed to have that one finished by today also, but the rains changed that plan. In total, including all the, cutting, laminating, constructing, taping, waterproofing, as well as painting, I calculated that I spent over 90 hours of labor just constructing the grow beds alone. Overall much more time consuming than I thought it would be, but still well worth the effort.

P.S.
My nutrients came this week as well. It's the 25 lb quantity of JR Peters herb formula. It's a one part formula, and should make 3,200 gallons of full strength nutrient solution. Considering I will be growing small plants, and only be needing between 1/4 and 3/4 strength nutrient solution, the 25 lb's should last me between 4 and 6 months of full greenhouse production depending on how often I do nutrient changes.

Well time flys,
I've been busy, but not as busy as I would have liked to be. The weather is really setting me back right now. I had finished the grow beds last week (Wednesday-Thursday), but needed to get them installed by Friday to have enough time to install the greenhouse covering before the rains. That didn't happen because all my helpers had other obligations (one had a back injury). I did however get in touch with my neighbor and got five of them installed Saturday before time ran out and he had to get to other obligations. As usual everything seems to take longer than expected.

Anyhow now I have 5 grow beds installed now and no covering before the rain. So I went out and got some drop cloths to cover them (not pictured) from the rain. The rain shouldn't hurt them, but filled with rain water they will take many more hours of work to clean and dry out again before I could continue work on them.

For the inside of the grow beds I created a lip for the bluebord to rest on. I used a compost wood decking material that isn't made from wood. It's actually a waterproof plastic material that resembles wood for outdoor decks. I cut it into one inch blocks to create the inside lip. Then I created a jig to install them, that way they would all be at the same level/height, as well as straight.

Once I cut them all I pre-screwed in the screws to make installation easier. Once they were screwed in, I took them all out again. Why? Because the screw holes wouldn't be waterproof that way. But once I had everything in place and all the holes drilled, all I needed to do was dab a bit of marine goop on all the screw holes and screw them back in the same holes. I didn't use silicone there because it never would have cured properly in that application.

Right now I'm just waiting to install the rest of the grow beds, I need a 3 day window without any chance of rain to be comfortable in doing that. Not that they will take that long to install, but I want a two day window to be able to install the covering on the greenhouse (after installing the grow beds).

But in the meantime I have some other things I can work on. Like getting the greenhouse ready to cover with the poly covering, and all the Polypropylene Batten Tape cut to size and ready. As well as the different sections of the greenhouse covering cut to size and ready. Also the press I need to build to flatten the bottom of the pots that will be holding the plants (because they have rounded bottoms, and don't sit flat). Not to mention putting together the water filtration system.

I just finished putting together my water filtration system yesterday. There are four filter housings. The first one contains the pre-sedimate filter, the next two two contain two activated charcoal filters, and the last one is a absolute one micron filter. At both ends of the water supply line I have installed quick connect fittings. The quick connect fittings will be attached to the hose as well. That will make it easy to quickly connect, and disconnect the water filter system inline with the water supply as needed with no hassles.

OK, I have had the greenhouse covering done for a few days now. Again there are to many pictures for one post so I will brake them up into two posts. First I cut the plastic sheet into 5 sections (4 sides, and the top). I made them bigger than needed and trimmed them down to the right size once it was completely attaches. I had to build a second wooden ladder for the side near the retaining wall because the other one was to large and wouldn't fit in-between.

I needed the sides to overlap, and the top to overlap all sides in order for it to be water proof. To do that I started installing the two ends first (the tall sides). wrapping it around the polls. Then I laid out the top section on one side, then duct tape 4 ropes to the edge. Then I just threw the ropes over the top and pulled it up from the other side (doing it evenly). I had already drew a center line down the center of the plastic sheet, that way it would be easy to line it straight down the center of the greenhouse. From there it was just mater of pulling it tight and screwing it in as I went down.

You can see the poly strapping I used in most of the pictures. That does two things, first it makes it so the screws wont just pull through the plastic making holes, and it adds extra strength for the plastic covering all the way around. Also it's important to pull the poly strapping tight as well as the plastic.

When installing the top section, I didn't attach the bottom edge yet because I need it to overlap the long sides as well as the short sides. If I did the sides first, there would have been no way for me to get to the top apex of the greenhouse to screw it in. In the center I built a platform that I could stand on that I can move around. But I also needed to stand right on top of the grow beds, so I just laid a bunch of 2x4's across there so I wouldn't do any damage to the grow beds. Doing the top that way was slow going (moving everything around to get where I needed), but I didn't have a choice because real tall free standing ladders are quite expensive (that's also why I built the wood ladders).

Continued in next post.............

As mentioned this is a continuation of my last post because there were too many pictures for one post...

Once the top section was attached enough so I could reach the rest with the 8 foot ladder, it was time to attach the long sides. I attached it to the 2nd horizontal runner from the ground on the top "A" frame section. And again pulled it tight. Then I overlapped the top section to the last horizontal runner down. Then I attached all the rest of the poly strapping, and cut the excess plastic covering off.

For the doorway I attached the poly strapping all around the door frame before cutting it out so it would remain tight. The poly strapping is 2-1/2 inches wide, so I lined it up so I can fold the same piece around the edge of the 2x4 door frame. Then I cut the doorway plastic out, folded the excess strapping around the edge and screwed that in as well. Then again just trimmed off the rest of the excess plastic greenhouse film. I already have the door built, but not installed yet (you can see the beginning of it in the first picture). It's a very solid door, that I not only screwed the heck out of, but I also glued the heck out of it with liquid nails. I'm just waiting a few days for the liquid nails to cure properly before I paint it white too. Then I'll attach the greenhouse film to it the same way I did the doorway before hanging it. Now I'm working on pluming all the grow beds to the reservoirs.

Looks awesome, just wondering if you have that water filter up and going yet and if there is anything you would have done differently?

Looks good man, have you tested your water filter system to see what your getting as an end result?

I had defiantly expected to have the hydro systems running by now. But due to many issues, I need about $500-$600 more to finish everything and have plants growing. I still need to finish the pluming, order the pots, install the electrical, as well as the ventilation fans. I have a check coming in a week or so that will be enough for the rest of what I need to finish the pluming, so hopefully I will have the hydro systems running and tested in a couple weeks.

The water filtration system is ready to run, but I haven't ran water through it yet. Simply because the plan is to get the pluming finished first, get the reservoirs cleaned out and refiled with water from the filtration system in order to test the system for leaks, and make sure it's all flowing (flooding and draining) correctly before adding the nutrients and plants. I thought about just running water through the filtration system for the fun of it, but we have been having nights that were getting into the mid 30's and I didn't want to risk it freezing and cracking the filter housings, filters, or PVC tubing with it just sitting outside for now.

I cant think of anything that I would really have done differently, unless money wasn't an issue. In that case I would have went with the see through cartridge housings for the seatmate filters. But they run just about twice the price just to be able to see when the cartridge is getting dirty ($30+ for the see through verse $18 for the regular housings). I'll just take the cartridge out to look at it, but I plan on replacing it about every 2 weeks to a month anyhow (they only run $10 for two of them). I also probably would either double up the single one micron filter (running parallel), or went with the large carriage and housing (commercial size) to allow a faster water flow rate for that filter. I think that filter is a 1-1/2 or 2 gallon a minute flow rate (I forget now), and is the lowest of them all. Also if money wasn't an issue I would also add a couple filter housings for the ion exchange filter/s. I will probably add those later anyway, or just take out one of the carbon filters and replace it with a carbon/ion exchange filter (something like this as an example GAC KDF Filter, 6-stage Water Filtration Cartridge). Originally I had planed to use carbon/ion filter cartridges anyway, I just haven't seen any here in town.

I do plan on getting a ppm meter someday just to see how the filters affect the ppm. But ppm alone isn't a good test, it would only tell me the before and after readings. Not what the water had in it to begin with, and what is still left in it after. Which is what I actually want to know. I'll go to the water company to find out what and how much of everything that is in our source water there generally is. From that I may change (or add) a couple of the filters for specific minerals that are in high concentrations in our source water. The ion exchange filters aren't exactly cheep (and I'll likely need to order those online), so I would want them to be able to take out the specific minerals I need them to. But money is an issue (at least at first), so I'll do any upgrades later.

I finished the greenhouse door a while a go, and also started the pluming. I still need to take some updated pictures of the pluming I've done so far, but I'll post the pictures I have now. Well because I had so many pictures, and sense I need to make another post for the pluming pictures anyway, I'll wait until I take the updated pictures of the pluming for that post. I'll try to remember to take those tomorrow.

You can see in the pictures that not only did I use tons of screws, but I also glued the whole thing together with liquid nails. I glued each seem and board. I cut the sections so they fit tightly together, and I used a square to make sure I had square corners. I attached the plastic covering to the door the same way I did to the door frame. The only problem I had was that the doorway wasn't plumed before I built the door. I knew I would need to shim it, but wasn't expecting to need to shim it in two directions at the same time. The top two hinges needed to be both pulled out, and tapered inward. So I cut two pieces of leftover OSB to the right shapes, glued them together to make a large shim that fixed both problems. Then I screwed it into the doorway frame to create a plum doorway to attach the hinges to. It looks a little odd, but it hangs as well as opens and closes perfectly.

I wasn't going to make a doorway threshold. I was just going to pack the dirt up until it was almost flush with the bottom of the door. But my mom brought up the fact that the rabbits could dig under it, so I created the wood threshold so they couldn't get under it. It would only take one rabbit to get in and hop on top of the bottom grow beds to destroy 2 weeks worth of income, so the extra effort's was easily worth the piece of mind to me.

you might ask the water company the loss rate of chemical's per mile or so. And i don't know if your talking about where you pay your water bill or the water treatment plant. I would attempt to go to the water treatment plant. They should actually be able to run test on your tap water. Back in the day when i worked i worked for the Water Distribution Dept. I was the city worker's that fixed main break's and sewer repair's. My dad was the supervisor in charge of the Waste Treatment plant.

I'm looking forward to seeing your set up up and running. I'm really interested in the Sub-T system and how it works

OK well it's been a long time since the last update. I'm not done with pluming the systems yet, but got enough done to give an idea of how it will look. With the exception of the tubing that is below ground everything is just dry fitted together so far. that way if I need to make changes, I wont be wasting materials.

The two reservoirs behind the greenhouse will be feeding the top two levels of growing beds. There are three 1-1/2 inch PVC tubes for each of those two reservoirs. One of them is for the fill line from the pump, the other two are return lines from the overflow. The 1-1/2 inch tubing continues all the way up for the overflow lines, and the fill lines split into two 3/4 inch lines just below the bottom level, then go up to the top levels from there. The fill line tubes are again reduced to 1/2 inch tubing at each of the "T" connectors going to the grow beds.

The bottom level will use the same 1-1/2 inch tubing for the return line, but with only one return tube back to the reservoir. The fill line for the bottom level will all be 1/2 inch tubing. I still need to cut the holes for both the fill and overflow fittings for all the grow beds. I needed to get the lines in place before I cut the holes for the fittings, so I could mark the exact spots where they will be cut. Once I have everything in place I'll begin gluing all the lines, connectors and fittings in.

P.S.
Again I have more pictures than I can put in one post, so I'll post the rest in the next post.